"My centre is giving way, my right is in retreat, situation excellent. I attack"

- Marshal Ferdinand Foch

Welcome to The World Wars.net. This site is focused on the statistics and numbers behind the biggest conflicts of the 20th century: World War I, World War II and the Cold War. Many historians have referred to this period as the "Long War", a period of protacted geo-political confrontation that began with the class of Europe's old empires in 1914-18, followed by the struggle between fascism and its rivals during the 1930s and 40s, and culminating in the post-World War II standoff between East and West that not too far ago threatened the world with nuclear annihilation.

The website is divided into three main sections: the statistics section is a compilation of military, economic and demographic information of period; the weapons section is a searchable database on all the major heavy weapons from World War I until today; and finally, the map section is a collection of links to cartographical resources available online. This site is in ongoing development, and an increasing volume of original research will added over time. In the meantime, enjoy what I hope to be the largest online compendium of statistical information on modern conflict.

Statistics

This page is a compendium of statistics relating to warfare in the 20th and 21st centuries. The statistics are organized by categories related to the military effort, industrial production, demographics as well as orders of battle. For World War I and II, there are also division lists showing all the campaigns where these units saw combat. Many of the tables have been taken directly from the sources listed, while others have been updated or compiled entirely by The World Wars.net. With over 70 different statistical series available, this is already one of the largest (if not the largest) collection of military statistics on the internet, for the sole purpose of assisting history buffs, students, historians, wargamers, etc. with their research needs.

This is a database on all major weapons of land, sea and air warfare produced throughout the world from World War I to today. The database is divided by each different branch of warfare, followed by individual country entries for the major military powers. Other nations are included under the International section. This database is a long term project and is therefore mostly under construction, but new weapons are added on a weekly basis. There is also an extensive reasources section below with links to original research by The World Wars.net as well as all external sources used. Although much of this information is avaialble elsewhere, future efforts will involve developing database tools to allow for highly advanced querying, to a level that is not found on any other website.

Maps are essential to the understanding of history, especially military history. There are extensive resources relating to mililtary cartography over the internet although it is often not easy to find them. This section of the website presents an organized listing of some of the best military maps available on the internet, sorted according to wars and campaigns. Although none of the maps are originally made by The World Wars.net (a previous incarnation of this website attempted this herculean task but found it far too time-consuming), there are enough links in hear to statisfy the research needs for anyone looking at the geographical aspects of 20th century conflict.

Resources

Here in the resources section you will find an extensive bibliography and links to some of the best military sites on the internet, including many which were classics before Wikipedia came along. Additionally, there are plenty of original articles made exclusively for this site, including interactive aircraft and vehicle rankings, designation systems, industry timelines and many more that will be gradually added over time.

NavBase is the only free and comprehensive internet database of all major navies from World War II until today, searchable by day. The database calculates tonnage totals for a proper assessment of naval power and features links to the ship class entries on the Weapons Database. NavBase will be gradually expanded to include more searchable features such as country comparisons, ship commissionings, and ship sinkings.